Sunday, December 31, 2006

This year was the first year that we all spent Christmas together, this made this a very special Christmas for us and especially Liamarie and my mom. Of course, Rachel and I kept it a secret until the surprise.

Just for fun, I put together a small video to remember it by and share some of our joy with you.

Well it’s another year down and the beginning of new adventures and a chance to get things right this time. I know it’s been several months since our last email and many, many things have happened.

The highlight would have been Christmas; it was the first time the Pack Family has all been together on Christmas. I’ve created a small internet video of the shocking big surprise to Liamarie and my mom when Troy arrived unexpected. However to avoid boring you or giving you a reason to delete our email unread, I’ll make this brief and let you know that we’re now posting updates to our blog (see below).

We’re also starting to build our house in Mexico next week…FINALLY. Also, Richard & Joyce (Rachel’s parents) begin construction on their new home in Mexico next week. We plan to keep a journal of the construction of both homes on the respective blogs (see below):

P.S. Mark your Calendar for April 6th, 7th, 8th for the first annual GATHERING. It’s a big party for all our friends and family in San Felipe, Baja. It’ll be a good time for all – food, fun & music.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Attitude is the difference between ordeal and adventure, and this has been an extremely adventurous week.

First we had to try and get our life packed into our RV and what didn’t fit we stuffed into out storage unit. Of course the RV had its own problems; the batteries all had issues, the generator had a jammed flywheel, the city water intake hose was leaking, plus several Ford recalls and a Fleetwood recall. Could it get any worse? Yes, but first it gets so much better.

Once we had the RV packed and the storage stuffed we were off to Fresno to visit with our both our parents and our daughter Liamarie. As always I couldn’t wait to see her, it seems I never get to see her enough. The sight of her brings me so much joy and unfortunately the goodbyes make me so sad. Even now while sitting in Barnes and Noble I hold back my tears. This time I know we’ll be there every month!T

he trip to Fresno was pretty smooth considering we hadn’t moved the RV in nearly a year. The only problem was we didn’t have a trailer or dolly, so Rachel had to follow behind in the car; certainly not the most economic way to travel.

It was great to see Liamarie, she is growing into such a beautiful young lady. The twice daily trip to her school from Rachel’s parents took an hour each time, but it was worth it. Things have really improved since she started this high school. She’s now getting great nearly straight A’s.

No with our monthly trips from San Felipe Mexico to Fresno, Richard and Joyce (Rachel’s parents) have allowed us to move in – literally. Rachel and I took over the office and Liamarie the other room. It’s was great to see Liamarie start to get her room setup. On Friday I took Liamarie to school for the last time this trip, and as always it made me sad. However, this time I know when we’ll be back and we have big plans together. When I get back we’re going to go into a recording studio and start producing music together. At first we’ll just do some simple recording and lay down some music tracks for Liamarie to sing to. I’ve place an add for studio musician to record a cover of Trooper, an old Iron Maiden sold that Liamarie loves to sing - Should be a kick in the pants.

Saturday morning we hit the road once again, this time towing the car behind on our new car dolly. We’re Baja Bound to begin a new adventure.

Once upon a time, well it’s not that easy, but I’ll make it as brief and painless as possible. Back in 2001, Liamarie and I were living in Fresno CA; Liamarie was attending private school and I was running a magazine and newspaper.

One night while magazine promoted a show at a nightclub, I was hung out at the attached restaurant and met my soul mate – Rachel. During the next three years, the three of us grew closer; Rachel, Liamarie and myself, until July 12th when we got married on the beach in Santa Barbara.

A week later Rachel, John, Troy, Liamarie and Troy friend Jeremy climbed aboard our brand new 2004 Fleetwood RV and traveled around the country. Jeremy was the first head back to California when we dropped him off in Alabama, next Liamarie had to fly back for school when we dropped her of in Dallas Texas, Troy completed the first trip around the country when we brought him back to Goleta California.

From there Rachel and I rounded the country again, stopping for longer stays while promoting mixed martial arts events or while Rachel competed in fitness compitions. We spent time in Lebanon Ohio, Crystal Beach Texas, Biloxi Mississippi, St. Paul Minnesota, Birmingham Alabama and finally Las Vegas.

After six long hot months in Las Vegas and 10 hour drives one way to Fresno to see Liamarie we decided it was time to move back to California, which is where we are now, in Ventura just south of Santa Barbara where we got married on the beach. We’ve come full circle.

Welcome to the first of our new monthly newsletter The Gypsy Journal, the newsletter for the Pack family, which includes John & Rachel, Troy, Liamarie and of course all our extended family.

Once a month The Gypsy Journal will have updates of where we are and what we’re doing. Hopefully you’ll find it funny, informative and inspiring; at the very least you’ll know what’s happening with the Pack family.

We seemed to always be on the move, living life by the seat of our pants; or at least is seems that way, but really it’s just a series of adventures we hope to share with you.Some would say we’re somewhere between different and strange, but that where we’re happy so this is where we’re stay.

Monday, September 25, 2006We're only 5 days left before we are back on the road again. It's been 2 years since we had the RV on the road and I'm a little nervous, not about driving it, just about anything that may need repair or replacement.

This weekend we replaced a broken hatch above the bedroom, purchased a new battery for the engine and had our two deep cycle 6-volts (for lights and power storage) checked and charged and they are in great shape and fully charged. The only thing left to do is get our Generator looked at, it stopped working due to lack of use. No one said I needed to use it to keep it in running order, oh well live and learn.

I had a local RV mechanic take a look and he said the flywheel was stuck; I tried to turn it too and sure enough it was locked solid. Hopefully we'll get out without too much financial pain.

Sunday, June 04, 2006John - I know this is the beginning, but I'm not sure where to start. I can say that right now I'm waiting for my daughter to install MSN Messenger so that we can video conference.

Soon school is getting out and she'll be coming to live with us for a few weeks before heading off to YMCA Leadership training progam. I'm very excited about her getting invloved in this program, I knew it sounded good, but Rachel had been a coordinator for the YMCA and spoke very highly of the program. This is a wonderful thing for her age.

In any case, this weekend we're picking her up for three weeks, with 4 days in baja in there too. Too bad Rachel can't be with us in Baja, but she'll be kicking ass in Florida at her Fitness Universe contest. So even though all of our support and love will be with her, we'll be in baja. The best part is we all return the same time.

The short of the journal entry is a salution and beginning of a new chapter in our life.

You may notice that many of the posts here are dates the same. The reason is that for the new year and because we have so many different blogs for various projects, we've decided to consolidate our blogs into a single account letting us manage them easier. So to get up-to-date they have all been moved to this new location, thus it changed the publish date.